


Don't worry baby, I always come when you call

by Multifandom_damnation



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Dysfunctional Family, Family Drama, Gen, Ghost Dave (Umbrella Academy), Good Brother Ben Hargreeves, Good Brother Diego Hargreeves, Protective Ben Hargreeves, Protective Diego Hargreeves, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Sibling Bonding, Talking To Dead People, god these tags are all over the place
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-28
Updated: 2019-11-28
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:01:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21580714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Multifandom_damnation/pseuds/Multifandom_damnation
Summary: Klaus tries to summon Reginald Hargreeves at the insistence of his siblings, but in the end, it results in a plethora of unresolved trauma, Ben proving that he's more of a badass than anyone gave him credit for and that Dave always comes when his man needs his help, no matter what, no matter when.
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Dave/Klaus Hargreeves
Comments: 19
Kudos: 719





	Don't worry baby, I always come when you call

**Author's Note:**

> This one kind of got away from me a little bit but I knew that I wanted a return of Dave and I didn't really mind how I got there, so I hope this kind of makes sense and that you like it because I was giddy throughout most of this. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it x

They were all gathered in the living room, as they always seemed to be, and Luther was elbow deep in a large pile of journals dated many years ago, written in different languages but all sporting their fathers familiar handwriting, while Diego paced back and forth with his hands behind his back, ranting angrily under his breath and Five sat back, unconcerned, with some sort of brightly coloured cocktail in a fabulous glass topped with different decorations.

After a long while, Luther finally gave up and threw one of the heavy, leather-bound tomes across the room with a growl of frustration where it hit the wall and slid to the floor, pages down. “This is fucking ridiculous. What is all this? Why didn’t he ever tell us about it?”

“Because he was a selfish bastard is why,” Diego snapped as he marched over to the book Luther had thrown and kicked it hard for good measure.

Having had enough of this, Allison sighed and rested her head heavily in her hands. “How about, instead of talking about how horrible he is, you actually tell us what you found?”

“That would be good,” Vanya muttered into her book. Diego sent a glare her direction, but his ire wasn’t directed at her, so she didn’t flinch away as she would have a long time ago.

Luther picked up seven journals in his thick arms and dumped them on the floor between them. Diego had to step around them to continue his pacing. “These are the only ones I could find in English, and they’re not journals, they’re, like, mission reports. Updates. On us.” He picked one up and opened the cover so he could display the first page. “Number Five- the Boy,” he said out loud before picking up another one and doing the same thing. “Number Six- the Horror. Number Three- the Rumour. They’re all on us. Some are longer than others- Ben and Five’s are short. Ours are long. It’s fucking crazy.”

“Where did you find these?” Allison asked as she extended her hand out for her book and Luther handed it to her.

“In his office, in a hidden compartment in the floor under his desk,” Luther said. “I was cleaning up, finding some of his useless shit to sell."

Five snorted as he stirred his drink with a metal spoon and the ice clinked against the glass. “That doesn’t sound like you.”

Luther sent him a dirty look. “Yeah, well, considering only three of us are working and out of those three, Allison hasn’t gotten a call for a movie in a while, Diego earns peanuts and Vanya is taking a break from music lessons to get her powers under control, I thought it’d be best if we got some sort of income flowing through this damn house, so _forgive_ me for taking initiative.”

Frowning, Vanya finally put her book down and looked at the stack of journals before Luther. “When does mine end?”

“Uhh...” Luther sought out Vanya’s and flipped to the final page that contained writing. “A little after he got your copy of your book,” handed her journal to her without looking.

“If those seven are in English,” Five asked, a little impatiently. “Then what language are the others in?”

Luther threw his hands up in the air. “God, Five, I don’t speak a language, I have no idea. This one looks German, this one looks Russian, this one looks Spanish, but this one looks Italian, and this one could be written in Mandarin, but this one is written in symbols and this one is written in code. I have no idea.”

“Well, we can sort out the Russian, Spanish and German ones, because three of us speak those languages,” Diego said, pausing his pacing to kick at the pile of tomes. Luther slapped his foot away. “And maybe there's one that Ben can read. But there’s not much we can do about the others. Especially not the codes.”

“Don’t be so sure,” Five interrupted. “I could crack it. I’ve gotten pretty good with codes. There wasn’t much else to do in the apocalypse and the Commission basically lives off of them.”

Allison stood up suddenly with her hands up, knowing what was coming. “Alright, we’re not going to sit here and get into an argument about fucking _codes_ , so one of you, either come up with a solution or shut up.”

There was some grumbling, but ultimately, everyone did what they were told and went back to looking over the books. Vanya was still invested in hers and Five was still uninvested in anything but his drink, but eventually, Luther gave up with a huff. “Alright, that’s it. We’re not going to find any solutions like this. We need to talk to dad.” Everyone looked at him. “What?”

“Are you really suggesting that we force Klaus to endure time alone with that-” Diego was so furious that Allison clamped a hand over his mouth to stop him from continuing.

“It can’t hurt,” Five shrugged. “We could all benefit from learning what these are and why he was keeping tabs on us all.”

Diego yanked Allison’s hand away from his mouth. “It could hurt _Klaus_!” he hissed. “Ghosts may ignore us, but they can hurt him, so why would dad be any different?”

Luther turned away from him. “Klaus!”

Ben and Klaus were playing cards in the corner, not paying any attention to the conversation at all, but when Luther called his name like that, Klaus’s head shot up and he looked around the room, confused and intrigued. “You rang?”

“I think they want to know if you can read German,” Ben mumbled, looking over his cards again.

“Yes, I can indeed read German,” Klaus said to the room. “I can speak it pretty well too, but that requires money, even from you. What do you need?”

“German? What- no,” looking confused, Luther shook his head. “This has nothing to do with you speaking German. We need you to contact dad and find out what these books are for.”

Even Ben looked outraged, and he dropped his cards to turn and look at his siblings. For his part, Diego looked furious and seemed about five seconds away from punching Luther on the back of the head. “You better be joking,” Klaus said cautiously. “Because that’s going to cost you a lot more than a couple of dollars.”

Now Allison was annoyed, although that wasn’t surprising. She usually wanted whatever Luther wanted. “Come on, Klaus. It’s your _thing_. You can do it easy now that you're sober, so why are you acting like it’s a big deal?”

“Because,” Klaus said slowly as if making sure everyone understood. “I don’t want to do it.”

“That comes as a surprise to no one,” Five muttered into his drink, eyebrows raised.

Vanya shot him a heated look. “Be nice. If he doesn’t want to do it, then we won’t make him. It’s his decision.”

Diego pointed at her eagerly while glaring at the back of Luther’s head. “I agree with Vanya. That’s the smartest thing she’s ever said. This is a bad idea and I refuse to be a part of something that forces Klaus to do anything that he doesn’t want to.”

“Stop being so soft, Diego,” Luther said before turning back to Klaus. “Well? Are you going to do it or not?”

“No!” Klaus waved his arms about. “Absolutely not! How many more languages do you want me to say it in? _Nein! Nie! Uimh! Nej! No! Non!_ Does that help?”

“Are you refusing to do it because you don’t want to or because you can’t?” Allison accused and even Vanya looked at her, annoyed.

Narrowing his eyes, Klaus gestured beside him to where Ben was currently standing there with his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed at Luther, card game abandoned. “Are you not seeing Ben standing right here next to me? I can _obviously_ do it. It’s got to do with the fact that I don’t really want my day ruined by ghosts trying to drag me to hell and I really, _really_ don’t want anything to do with _dad_.”

“For the love of- fine,” Luther threw his hands up, very frustrated. “Fine, whatever. I guess we’ll have to find another way to figure out these journals. Maybe we’ll find some weirdo to resurrect Pogo or fix Grace’s wiring.”

Diego watched as Vanya lowered her head, ashamed, and hid her face behind her hair. “Luther, don’t be a prick. You’ve made your point. We’ll figure out something else.”

Scoffing, Five finally put his glass down and stood up, brushing invisible dust off of his blazer. “This has been a complete and utter waste of time. Klaus, if you’re not going to do anything worthwhile, then I’ve got more important things to do than watch you idiots fret over a bunch of old diaries that probably mean nothing.”

“Don’t make us all come here for nothing, Klaus,” Allison said. Klaus narrowed her eyes at her.

“Hey, hey!” Diego waved his hands about and caught Allison’s attention. “Don’t try and guilt him into doing something he doesn’t want to. If he says no, then we’ll just find another way.”

But Ben knew his brother better than anyone else, and he knew that look in Klaus’s eye. “Klaus, don’t. It’s not worth it. You know it’s not. Let them sort it out themselves- don’t get involved. Fuck them.”

“Fuck them?” Allison scoffed. “Come on Ben, you used to be nicer than that.”

“Yeah, well, I guess being dead kind of changes your perspective on things,” Ben snapped back at her and she actually flinched away.

Diego clapped his hands together. “Alright, it’s settled. We’re not forcing Klaus to do anything he doesn’t want to.”

“Only because he hasn’t got any idea how to do it,” Five pointed out.

Klaus narrowed his eyes at him. “Is that a challenge?”

“Klaus...” Ben warned. “Don’t let them bait you.”

It all seemed to come to a head for Luther, who closed his eyes tightly and shouted, “Klaus!” so loudly that Klaus flinched and retreated further into the corner, eyes wild. “For the love of God, please just do the fucking thing.”

“Luther, don’t you dare give me reason to stab you,” Diego warned, reaching back and removing a knife from his belt.

But Luther was not the only one who was fed up. “Alright, alright, _fine_!” Klaus snapped, waving his hands above his head as he stepped out from his cosy corner and into the centre of the room. “But just know that I fucking hate you all. Except you Vanya dear, you’ve always been a doll, and you Diego, for a least pretending to have my best interests at heart. The rest of you can go fuck yourselves.”

Nobody else commented, but Ben rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest in frustration. If he were more solid right now, he’d be teaching his siblings a lesson.

Klaus stood in the middle of the lounge, eyes shut tight and arms thrust out in front of him, his crop-top riding up above his bellybutton. He wiggled his fingers a little bit and waved his arms about until slowly, ever so slowly, a deep blue glow began to shine under his fingernails. “Come to papa,” he muttered to himself. “Come on, you slimy old bastard, say adios to Jack the Ripper and come have an actual conversation with your fucked-up children for the first time in your miserable life. Come on. _Come_ -”

There was a flash of blue-tinted light and suddenly the siblings were no longer alone in the lounge room, and Reginald Hargreeves stood there, checking his pocket watch absently while other, more horrifying ghosts stood at the sidelines, clinging to the walls, waiting for Klaus’s command. “There you go,” Klaus turned his back on his father’s ghost. “Hope you’re happy. Talk away, before I get bored and send him back.”

“Very good, Number Four,” Reginald said as he shut his watch, making Klaus flinch. “That only took you close to 15 minutes, between all the meaningless discussion and the eventual action, which is much too long, but faster than last time. You need more practice than I thought.”

With his back turned, Klaus made mocking faces directed at his father, and Ben stifled a laugh behind his hand as Klaus joined him back in their corner. “To be fair, I didn’t summon you the first time, I died and you gave me a haircut, and the second time was just a not-so-happy accident, so the least you could do is cut me some slack for doing it on purpose this time.” He said, examining his newly glowing nails.

“Regardless,” Reginald crossed his arms behind his back and looked over his children carefully yet disdainfully. “We’d best get back to work while you’re still capable of maintaining the connection so-"

Luther cleared his throat. “Actually,” he interrupted, which was a shock to everyone- never in his right mind would Luther ever dare to interrupt their father. Even Diego looked impressed. “We just need you to tell us what these are. These journals are all in different languages. They’re about us. What for? Why were you keeping them?”

For the very first time, Reginald turned his disdainful and disapproving look onto Luther that the other children endured every single day of their childhood. “Where did you find those? Who gave you permission to go through my personal belongings and take them as your own?”

“Yeah, I was snooping, so what,” Luther picked up a book and waved it angrily at Reginald. While the books were very thick and very heavy and would have been almost imposable to hold and shake like that for a normal person, Luther easily held it in one hand and shook it like a can of whipped cream. “What were they for?”

“The only reason we brought you here is for you to tell us,” Diego pointed out. “So either you tell us or Klaus sends your ass back down to hell where you belong.”

Reginald was very still as he looked between all his children, skipping over Vanya who was slumped into the couch, and his frown seemed to deepen. “The content of those journals are none of your concern. Now, Number Four, for your training I would suggest spending more time attempting to strengthen your connection to the spirits that surround you. Training to commence immediately. I shall meet you at the mausoleum in one hour, and I shall open the doors to grant you exit if I believe you have trained enough at dawn.”

At the mention of the mausoleum, Klaus somehow went paler than normal, and he put a shaking hand out in front of him to protect him as he took a step back. Luther sort of knew what was going on, and Diego knew a little bit more than Luther, but Ben knew exactly what was going on, and he stepped out in front of Klaus as he was muttering frantically under his breath with wide eyes. “Not the mausoleum, don’t send me back there, please don’t...”

“Don’t you _dare_ ,” Ben threatened as Reginald took a step closer and Ben put himself before his brother and his father. “I won’t let you put him back there again. You’re going to leave now, and I will personally escort you back to hell if I have to. Back off.”

“Number Six,” Reginald looked furious. “What. Do. You. Think. You’re. Doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing?” Ben scoffed. “I’m taking care of my brother as I have been for the past 30 years. Either you tell them what the books are or you leave.”

“You were never so defiant, Number Six. I’m disappointed.”

“Yeah, well, I died for you, you egotistical fuck. I think that has to count for something.”

Reginald seemed to pause. The rest of the family was forced to stand back, stunned at the situation unfolding before them. Klaus cowered behind Ben, clutching the dog tags that always hung around his neck like one might hold a crucifix on a set of rosary beads. “What, exactly, are you intending to accomplish here, Number Six?” Reginald said slowly, taking a menacing step towards Ben.

While he was alive, Ben had always been the quiet sibling, the one who would sit back and avoid confrontation and stay out of arguments and do whatever was asked of him without question for more reasons than one, but being dead for as long as he had been and being forced to watch his only brother and best friend almost join him every night, he’d changed in an almost inconceivable way. Only Klaus had really noticed, considering that he’d been the only one who could see Ben for so long, but to him it had been a slow progression, something that was always happening, so it was no surprise to him when Ben raised his chin, fire in his eyes, his fists clenched at his side, and took a step closer to their father. “Ghosts can hurt Klaus, but in my experience, ghosts can hurt each other, too. You don’t scare me, old man. Not anymore. So if you want Klaus, you’re going to have to go through me, first.”

The room seemed to hold their breath as they waited for their father to make the next move. Reginald took a step closer and raised a hand high above his head. “That can be arranged.”

It all happened in less than an instant.

In the moment Reginald had stepped forward, Ben had closed his eyes and braced himself for impact, and Klaus had shouted, “Ben, no!” and the room exploded in a blinding blue light that not even Klaus himself was expecting, and everyone flew back in shock, blinking dark spots out of their eyes.

When they could see again, the two ghosts in the room had become three, and standing between Ben and Reginald was a young-looking handsome man with blood coating the front of his military scrubs, a set of familiar dog-tags hanging from his neck, a cocky yet frustrated look on his face.

Klaus was the first one to break the silence, eyes wide and close to tears, voice full of awe. “Dave...”

Dave glanced over his shoulder and winked at Klaus. “Hey, baby. I’ll get to you in a minute. Let me deal with this first, huh?”

The stunned Reginald regained his senses faster than his children. “What is the meaning of this?” he hissed, frustrated, as he stepped away from the newcomer.

Slowly, Dave turned to look at Reginald with an expression of barely concealed anger. Behind him, Ben looked very happy indeed. “I’ve heard a lot about you, Mr Hargreeves,” Dave said, unafraid. “And let me be the first to say it, you’re just as horrible as you were described.”

Even Diego had to clamp his hand over his mouth to stifle the unexpected laugh. Reginald stepped back, horrified and deeply offended. “I beg your pardon?”

Unconcerned, Dave slowly started walking towards Reginald while the older ghost retreated. “I mean, really, when Klaus told me about his childhood and the way you would lock him up and make him compete against his other siblings, I didn’t believe it at first. But then I got to know him a little better and then I realized that someone like him could only be so fucked up due to a life-time of daddy issues, so I believe we have you to thank for that.”

“Who the hell do you think you are?” Reginald demanded now that the shock was starting to wear off and he was feeling a little braver. “Coming into my home and-”

He was cut off by Dave rolling his eyes and waving a hand under his nose. “Yeah, yeah, that’s enough of that. To answer your question, I’m Klaus’s boyfriend, nice to meet you. We fought in the trenches together- 1968, right babe?”

Klaus let out a half-hearted, “Yeah,” and didn’t really have the strength for anything else.

Satisfied, Dave turned back to Reginald. “1968, in the Vietnam War. Practically came out of nowhere and dropped right into my lap, and the next minute he was handed a gun and- well. That’s a story for another day, and not one you deserve to hear. My point is that I’ve faced much scarier demons than you, and so has Klaus. So if you don’t want to get your ass kicked, back the fuck up, because you haven’t been paying much attention to your son, but he can fight like a bat out of hell, and he isn’t scared of you. Not anymore. None of them is. You have no power here.”

“You have no idea who you’re talking to, boy,” Reginald warned as he bridged the short gap between him and Dave until they were practically nose-to-nose.

“Yeah, I do, and I know that I have nothing to be afraid of,” Dave said. “When I died, I made a promise that if I could help it, I would never let anyone hurt Klaus ever again, no matter who it was. And that includes his disrespectful, piss-poor fuck-wit of a father,” he placed a hand against Reginald’s chest. “So it’s time for you to go, and if I ever see you here again when you’re not welcome, you’re going to be sorry.”

Before Reginald could utter any sort of retort, Dave put his hand almost through his chest and his ghostly body evaporated in a twist of spiralling fractals, light dancing off a disco ball, and they were alone in the lounge room once more, two ghosts again.

Dusting his hands off on the front of his blood-stained uniform, Dave turned around and flashed the room with a blinding smile. “Afternoon, everyone, nice to finally see your smiling faces again.”

“How the hell did you do that?” Ben asked, laughing a little. “You just made him _explode_.”

“Nah, I just sent him back to wherever it is we ghosts come from, he’ll be fine,” Dave waved him off. “I’ve been practising in my abundance of spare time. I’ve got some things I could probably teach you,” he winked as he ruffled Ben’s hair like you would a little brother, and Ben scrunched up his nose and swatted his hands away.

The room was in a state of shock with everyone watching their sibling interact with this strange war ghost that had introduced himself as their brother's boyfriend and then insulted their father back to death, but thankfully, Klaus himself broke the silence. “Dave... you came...”

Dave turned that blindingly bright smile onto Klaus, and there was nothing but pure love and adoration in his eyes. “Hey there, sugar. Long-time no see.’’

“You came,” Klaus held out his arms as Dave walked towards him and willingly fell into an embrace. The moment they made contact, Dave seemed to solidify, as if being close to Klaus gave him a strength that the other ghosts didn’t get. “I can’t believe you came.”

“Of course I came,” Dave raised your eyebrows. “You called me- maybe unintentionally but you called for me. I always come when my man calls.”

Klaus laughed. “I missed you."

“I missed you too,” Dave smiled, and Klaus felt his knees go weak. “But it’s only been a couple of days, babe. I haven’t been gone that long.”

“I know, but I still missed you every moment,” Klaus replied, and he knew that he was being incredibly sappy and breaking character in front of his siblings, but at that point, he didn’t really give a shit.

Dave craned his neck to place a delicate kiss on Klaus’s cheek. “God, darlin’, you’re just adorable.”

“Uh, hello,” Diego interrupted, the first sibling to break out of his stun. “Can someone tell me what the hell is going on here right now?”

“Oh,” Klaus stepped back, wiping tears away from his eyes, but still kept one arm around Dave’s waist as he turned to face the family. “Everyone, this is Dave, my-”

But he was interrupted by Diego once again, who waved his hand impatiently. “Yeah, no shit, I know who Dave is. What the fuck just happened though, Klaus? Where did dad go? What did you _do_?”

“I’ve got no idea,” Klaus replied. “But I think that by now we all know he wasn’t going to tell us what those books were, and there was no way in the nine hells that I was going to let him lock me up in the mausoleum again, so it’s probably a good thing that he’s gone.”

This time, Ben stepped forward before anyone else could interject. “Alright, that’s enough. You two...” he pointed at Klaus and Dave. “Have some catching up to do. So scram. Have fun. I’ll deal with this.”

Before Ben had even finished speaking, Klaus was whisking Dave upstairs, laughing all the while, and eventually, Klaus’s bedroom door shut firmly behind them, the giggling muted.

“What the fuck just happened?” Allison asked as Five stood up from his chair and looked like he was contemplating following Klaus up the stairs to answer that exact question.

“Our brother is dating a ghost,” Luther said, almost to himself, and Diego laughed at the absurdity of it all. Vanya looked proud.

Ben just shrugged. “He’s happy, that’s all that matters. This is all I’ve wanted for the past 30 years. I never thought that it would happen, but I’m glad it finally did.”

**Author's Note:**

> God I hate writing Reginald but sometimes the sacrifice needs to be made
> 
> ALSO, THEIR LAST NAME SUCKS TO SPELL
> 
> Some of the things mentioned here are references to other fics, so if there are some things you don't understand, let me know and I'll ever tell you which fic the references are from or what they mean.


End file.
